FIG. 1 is an example of the entire configuration of a conventional information processing system. The information processing system is configured by computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n as a plurality of information processing apparatuses and an external control terminal 400.
The computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n provide various data processing functions under the control of the external control terminal 400. The external control terminal 400 has the function of issuing various instructions such as a data processing execute instruction, a setting instruction, a power-up instruction, etc. to the computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n, and a function of holding error information transmitted from the computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n. 
The computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n may have different configurations but it is assumed in this specification that they have the same configurations. For simplicity, only the configuration of the computer unit 100-1 is described in this specification.
FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration of the computer unit 100-1.
The computer unit 100-1 is configured by a unit body 110, an extended housing 120, and an external IO (Input Output) housing 130.
The unit body 110 has a plurality of computer components 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, . . . as hardware resources, and is configured by a computer component controller 300 generally referred to as a SVP (service processor) as a system control device.
Each of the computer components 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, . . . has, for example, a processor, semiconductor memory, an IO, and various controllers to configure a computer, and may perform various arithmetic operations individually.
The computer component controller 300 controls the operations of the computer components 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, . . . under the management of the external control terminal 400. The computer component controller 300 is connected to the computer components 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, . . . by a bus connection formed by a printed circuit, a cable, etc. The computer component controller 300 is also wired through the external control terminal 400, a cable for a LAN (local area network), etc.
The extended housing 120 has as hardware resources a computer component 200-n similar to the component provided for the unit body 110. In providing a data processing function by the computer unit 100-1, the extended housing 120 is connected to the unit body 110 as necessary when the hardware resources for data processing are running short only with the computer components 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, . . . provided for the unit body 110. The computer component 200-n of the extended housing 120 is connected to the computer component controller 300 of the unit body 110 by a bus connection similar to that described above, and it operation is controlled by the computer component controller 300 under the management of the external control terminal 400.
The external IO housing 130 has as hardware resources an external storage device such as an extended RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive (Independent) Disks) disk device etc. and an external controller such as an extended PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) interface etc. When the external 10 housing 130 is connected to the unit body 110 via a cable etc., the operation of a component of the external 10 housing 130 is controlled by the computer component controller 300 under the management of the external control terminal 400.
In the computer unit 100-1, a plurality of operating systems are concurrently operated in one computer unit by individually configuring partitions 101-1, 101-2, . . . whose operating systems are independently operated. Each of the partitions 101-1, 101-2, . . . controls the respectively hardware resources of the computer unit 100-1 as necessary. In this case, the computer component controller 300 as a system control device controls the power supply, controls a resetting operation (initialization of hardware), dynamically changes the configuration (changes the control target by each partition), collects error information, monitors the environment, etc. on the hardware resources under the management of each partition.
The computer component controller 300 holds various setting information for the computer unit 100-1.
The external control terminal 400 illustrated in FIG. 1 controls the operations of the computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n having the above-mentioned configuration, and holds the individual information about the computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n. Practically, for example, the terminal issues power-on (power-up), shut-down (power-off), and reboot (reactivate) instructions to hardware resources under the management of each partition, issues a division set instruction to each partition of each hardware resources of the computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n, holds and displays an error log of each of the computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n, performs display on a console for a human interface in each partition, acquires an instruction from an operator, holds specific setting information (same information as that held in the computer component controller 300) in each of the computer units 100-1, 100-2, . . . , and 100-n, etc.
In the information processing system illustrated in FIG. 1, for example, when the external control terminal 400 issues power-on, shut-down, and reboot instructions to the computer unit 100-1, the computer component controller 300 of the computer unit 100-1 performs the controlling operation in accordance with the instructions. In addition, when an error occurs in any hardware resources of the computer unit 100-1, the error information is transmitted to the external control terminal 400 through the computer component controller 300, and an error log is stored and displayed by the external control terminal 400.
For example, if the computer component controller 300 is replaced when a fault occurs in the computer component controller 300 provided for the computer unit 100-1, the setting information specific to the computer unit 100-1 held for backup by the external control terminal 400 is written to the new computer component controller 300 after the alternation.
By the way, it is preferable that an information processing system used in a basic system etc. is reliable enough to continue its operation by an alternating function although a hardware fault occurs, and replace faulty hardware (hot swap) without stopping the system.
However, in the configuration of the computer unit 100-1 in the conventional information processing system illustrated in FIG. 2, the connection between the computer components 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, and 200-n and the computer component controller 300 and the connection between the components of the external 10 housing 130 and the computer component controller 300 are made by cable. Therefore, when a fault occurs in the computer component controller 300, the controlling operations of the shutdown, the reboot, the dynamic configuration change, the collection, etc. of error information of the computer unit 100-1 are not performed. When the faulty computer component controller 300 is replaced, for example, all partitions 101-1, 101-2, . . . in the computer unit 100-1 are stopped with the power supply of the entire information processing system shut down.
For example, the above-mentioned problems may be solved by duplexing the computer component controller 300 for the computer unit 100-1. However, the duplexed computer component controller 300 complicates the configuration and increases the cost, and the problem of the fault of the selector unit required for the alternation of the duplexed computer component controller 300 is not solved.
Furthermore, related to the embodiment(s) discussed herein, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-267225 discloses the invention as the technology of controlling the input/output of a server device by connecting a control device for controlling the server device to a mobile terminal through a radio transmission path.
For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-220264 discloses the invention of communicating data between the equipment configuration units built in a housing by wireless communication.